We are writing to ask you to join with California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) in our statewide campaign to DROP LWOP and secure sentence commutations for all those serving Life Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP). LWOP is an inhumane sentence which denies people the possibility to rehabilitate and change.

We are asking Governor Brown to use his executive powers to commute the almost 5,000 people serving LWOP sentences — including nearly 200 women and transgender people in CA women’s prisons — to parole-eligible sentences. Because CCWP has advocated for the civil and human rights of people in CA women’s prisons for 22 years, we focus on the impact of life without parole sentencing on the 200 people serving LWOP in women’s prisons.

Will you join us? We are looking for organizations and individuals to sign on to the letter below as a first step in expressing support for this campaign. Please feel free to contact info@womenprisoners.org or (415) 255-7036 x 4 with any comments, questions, or concerns.

Thank you,

California Coalition for Women Prisoners

Dear Governor Brown,

As grassroots, advocacy, and social justice organizations, we are writing to urge you to commute the sentences of all people serving Life Without Parole (LWOP) in California’s prisons to parole-eligible sentences.

Life Without Parole sentencing is increasingly being challenged and limited across the United States. We believe that life without parole is inhumane. It denies that people have the capacity to change, grow and be rehabilitated, and thus is known as “the other death penalty” by those serving it and by their families.

As you know, many states, including California, are legislating against sentencing youth to Life Without Parole.[i] Now it is time to take action to mitigate the impact for all people sentenced to die in prison due to this endless punishment. While commuting a sentence does not guarantee release from prison, it does guarantee that each person will have the right to see the parole board in their lifetime, rather than being sentenced to a “living death.”

People of color are disproportionately sentenced to LWOP, revealing prosecutorial bias and racial discrimination.[ii] Of the nearly 200 people serving LWOP in CA women’s prisons, the overwhelming majority are survivors of abuse, including intimate partner battering, childhood abuse, sexual violence and sex trafficking. [iii] Additionally, the majority are first-time “offenders,” and had no record prior to being sentenced to Life Without Parole.

All 5,000 people serving LWOP in CA prisons are subjected to institutional discrimination, such as:

They are barred from rehabilitation programs, including the majority of state-run self-help programs because of their sentences.

Though they are required to pay restitution, they are only eligible for jobs that pay the lowest hourly wage, currently only eight cents per hour. Because they are barred from access to higher wage opportunities, they often cannot pay restitution, and this economic burden falls on their families.

They are ineligible for Elder Parole and Compassionate Release when aging and terminally ill.

We urge you to take a bold stance against Life Without Parole sentencing and let California serve as a model for the rest of our nation. Please continue to take leadership on this issue and commute all those sentenced to LWOP to parole-eligible sentences, initiate a process to eliminate life without parole from the California penal code, and provide people sentenced to LWOP with opportunities for rehabilitation and redemption.

]]>CIW June 1 Vigil Highlightshttp://womenprisoners.org/?p=2570
Thu, 15 Jun 2017 04:17:44 +0000http://womenprisoners.org/?p=2570Continue reading →]]>Thank you to the families of #ShayleneGraves, #ErikaRocha & everyone who came out and supported our Vigil on June 1 at CIW women’s prison.

Together we honored Shaylene “Light Blue” Graves on the one-year anniversary of her death in custody, linking her preventable death to at least 15 more preventable deaths in the past 3 years at CIW. Together we continued the fight to end state-sanctioned death & abuse at CIW, demanding #CareNotCages. We connected directly with incarcerated people across the barbed wire before they were locked down, chanting “We see you, we miss you, we love you, we got you!” They cheered and chanted back “Shut down CIW!”

On June 1, 2017, advocates and families will convene a vigil and rally at the prison, California Institution for Women (CIW), marking one year since the devastating death of 27-year-old African American, Shaylene “Light Blue” Graves. Graves was imprisoned at CIW at the time of her death and was only six weeks away from release. For days, Graves begged guards to move her to a different cell when she felt endangered, but CIW staff ignored her. Since 2013, at least 15 women have died at CIW as a result of multiple forms of abusive practices which amount to psychological torture. These practices include ignoring desperate pleas for help by imprisoned people in mental health and medical crisis. Despite changes in CIW’s top administration in 2016, reports of ongoing psychological torture at CIW continue.

Sheri Graves, mother of Shaylene, has been working with advocates at the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) to bring more attention to the human rights crisis at CIW. “CIW staff failed to protect my daughter’s life,” she stated. “The fact that Shaylene’s death is part of an ongoing pattern of disregard for human life at CIW makes this loss all the more devastating. Shaylene was an exceptional person with a big heart and so much promise. She was looking forward to her release and was working on her vision to begin a non-profit organization called Out of the Blue to support people coming out of prison. In memory of Shaylene and all of the people who have lost their lives at CIW, we demand full transparency, full accountability, and an end to these torture practices.”

CIW’s suicide rate is more than 8 times the national rate for people in women’s prisons, and more than 5 times the rate for all California prisons. “Shaylene’s death is part of a pattern of neglect and psychological torture at CIW,” said Colby Lenz, an advocate at CCWP. “CIW uses “suicide watch” confinement as another form of solitary confinement, which has been identified as a form of psychological torture by incarcerated people, human rights experts, and legal advocates. As part of this torture, CIW punishes people in “suicide watch” confinement with intensive isolation that blocks them from visits and calls from families and friends. CIW also regularly fails to notify families about the status of their endangered loved ones, including blocking access to their legal and medical files even after death. Currently, “suicide watch” is overcrowded and we continue to receive weekly reports of suicide attempts at CIW.”

Shaylene Graves died shortly after 35-year-old Erika Rocha hung herself at CIW in April 2016 after being forced in “suicide watch” solitary confinement. “I don’t want any other family to go through what my family has gone through,” stated Rocha’s sister, Freida Rocha. Advocates and families demand the end of all forms of psychological torture within CIW, including the end of “suicide watch” confinement practices. As part of fulfilling the demand for transparency and accountability, the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) should make available public reports on compliance with the August 2016 Coleman settlement court order regarding mental health services and suicide prevention protocols. They also demand that those in confinement have full access to visits and calls from families and friends, and the immediate transfer of all medical and legal information to family members if their imprisoned loved ones are in life-threatening situations or have died while incarcerated at CIW.

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]]>LWOP COMMUTATIONS FOR SUE RUSSO & KEN HARTMAN!http://womenprisoners.org/?p=2549
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 03:48:38 +0000http://womenprisoners.org/?p=2549Continue reading →]]>CCWP welcomes Governor Brown’s granting of 72 pardons and seven commutations on April 15, 2017 (See more information) We are especially glad that he commuted the LWOP sentence of Kenneth Hartman who has long led the fight against LWOP as “the other death penalty,” and the LWOP sentence of Sue Russo, a survivor of domestic violence, who CCWP works with and has served almost twenty-three years at CCWF. Our hearts go out to all the other people with LWOP sentences who were hoping for commutations at this time. We are committed to moving forward CCWP’s campaign to win Commutations for All people with LWOP and to put an end to this cruel but far too usual sentence completely.

When I faced the hardest situation of my life, CCWP was there for me. The very day I received the tragic news of the death of my daughter, Shaylene Graves, in a California state women’s prison, CCWP reached out to me and my family. Through CCWP’s tireless efforts, my family has been given the strength to ?ght for justice and seek answers in Shaylene’s death. Through CCWP, I have been introduced to other families that share my grief and struggle. All of our families have been given a voice through CCWP’s incredible organization and dedication. – Sheri Graves

Dear CCWP Community,

SHOUT THEIR NAMES! NO MORE DEATHS! BRING OUR LOVED ONES HOME ALIVE! These calls of grief and rage reverberated through a Town Hall in Oakland this past July and two months later at a vigil directly in front of the California Institution Women (CIW). CCWP organized these events working closely with family members of people who have died at CIW due to overcrowding, solitary confinement, lack of mental health services and racist neglect. After three years of insisting that the epidemic of suicide and death at CIW could not be ignored by the prison authorities or the California legislature, we finally succeeded in winning an independent investigation of CIW by the State Auditor, one step towards needed change. Our continued pressure also helped push the dysfunctional wardens at CIW and CCWF into early retirement.

We raised our demands to prison officials and the legislature through media, hearings, vigils, and town halls. At the same time, we expanded our visits to the people inside, encouraging their courageous efforts to support each other. We partnered with the women at CIW to respond to the traumatic impact of repeated losses. We let family members and loved ones know that they did not have to deal with this crisis alone. We were able to sustain this struggle against the callous disregard of the prison authorities and the lawmakers because we built community at the same time as we advocated for systemic policy changes.

Other major highlights of 2016 include:

A Living Chancemulti-media storytelling project was included as part of a major exhibit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. A Living Chance uses storytelling and art to educate about the injustice of Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentencing.

Participation in the national Survived & Punished network which helped to publicize and mobilize people to support Bresha Meadows, a young Black woman who was arrested for defending herself and her family from her father who had a long history of abusing them.

Participation in the Trans Advocacy Group, a collaborative of organizations working to support incarcerated transgender people in California. CCWP helps the group coordinate more consistent support for trans men held in women’s prisons, and advocates for trans women in CA prisons.

Participation in the SF No More Jails coalition which defeated a proposed SF county jail rebuild in December 2015.Participation in the city’s working group for alternatives to incarceration.

Continuation of our Fired Up! empowerment group in the SF County jail, our Spitfire Speakers’ Bureau and The Fire Inside Newsletter, now in its twenty-first year of publication.

Sustaining five visiting teams that provide legal advocacy and support at all the women’s state prisons on a bi-monthly basis and expanding out L.A. team to respond to the CIW crisis.

In this grim political moment, we join with people across the country in preparing to resist escalating racist, sexist and economic attacks from a new ultra right-wing administration. Heightened criminalization and imprisonment of immigrants is one of the many planned assaults that we intend to fight. Together, collectively, we will stand firm on our core principles of justice and love.
Hafsah Al-Amin & Windy Click
Program Coordinators

Please join CCWP in helping Denise Gomez’ family raise money for her funeral. Denise died by suicide two weeks ago while incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility.

CCWP had the honor of partnering with Denise on a health-fair at CCWF last year. Denise spoke powerfully at the health-fair and contributed to her community in many ways. We join a large network of people inside and outside of prison grieving Denise’s loss and demanding an end to prison conditions that continue to lead to tragic and preventable deaths.

This statement was produced by A Living Chance: a storytelling project of California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP), created with women and transgender people serving Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentences. This statement reflects conversations with our partners inside prison whose voices are too often omitted from public discourse on measures that directly affect them.

On November 8, 2016, Californians will vote on two propositions regarding the Death Penalty. Prop 62, the Justice That Works Act, would abolish the death penalty by replacing it with Life Without Parole (LWOP). Those currently on death row would lose their rights to use the appeal process and legal habeas to get their cases reviewed. Prop 62 would also require all people serving LWOP to pay 60% of their wages to a victim’s fund. Prop 66, the Death Penalty Reform and Savings Act would speed up the review and decision process for death row appeals, resulting in a faster timeline for executions. It would also require more lawyers to take on capital appeals, whether or not they have experience with capital cases.

We strongly oppose the death penalty. We believe it is racist, classist and ableist, condemns many innocent people to death, and neither deters violence nor promotes rehabilitation. The Vision for Black Lives agenda accurately characterizes the death penalty as “designed to bring lynching into the courtroom” and as impacting primarily Black, Brown and poor people. We stand firmly against Prop 66.

We also strongly oppose LWOP, called “the other death penalty” by people serving this sentence. We believe LWOP is also racist, classist and ableist, condemns many innocent people to a slow living death, and neither deters violence nor promotes rehabilitation. The majority of people serving LWOP in California’s women’s prisons are survivors of abuse and were sentenced to LWOP as aiders and abettors of their abuser’s acts. We believe that LWOP relies on the intersections of racial terror and gendered violence.

For voters who oppose all forms of death sentences including LWOP, the choice between an initiative that replaces one form of death with another (Prop 62) and an initiative that speeds up executions (Prop 66) is hardly a choice at all. It is morally compromising to vote for Prop 62, which further criminalizes and demonizes our loved ones and creates a false hierarchy between forms of state-sanctioned death. However, we recognize that a decision to vote against Prop 62 is complicated by fear that Prop 66 will win. Ending the death penalty in California could be a powerful symbol for the rest of the country and represent a growing awareness of the injustices and inhumanity of incarceration and the criminal legal system as a whole. Every person who votes will need to make a difficult decision about two very problematic propositions.

We believe that both the death penalty and LWOP should be recognized as unjust and eliminated. One of our LWOP partners in prison, Amber states: “To reassure people that LWOP is a better alternative to death is misleading.” Rather than facing executions, people with LWOP will die a slow death in prison while experiencing institutional discrimination. People with LWOP cannot participate in rehabilitative programs, cannot work jobs that pay more than 8 cents an hour, and will never be reviewed by the parole board. We agree with the Vision for Black Lives policy goal to abolish the death penalty and we believe that true abolition of the death penalty includes abolishing LWOP and all sentencing that deprive people of hope.

When the death penalty was temporarily banned from 1972 to 1976 by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling all people then on death row had their sentences overturned or converted to life. Many of these people successfully paroled and are now contributing to their communities. We believe that as a society we must choose to reject death penalties of all forms. Although we are dismayed that this option is not on the November 2016 ballot, no matter what happens on election day we will continue the fight to abolish the death penalty and LWOP!

Commentary on Prop 62 From People Serving Life Without Parole

“There are women and men on death row who didn’t commit their crime and it would be an injustice to speed up the court process. LWOP is another death penalty sentence, a slow death. I want everyone to know that everyone on LWOP in the state of California [already] pays restitution. Funds are taken from the wages of an inmate or monies that are sent in from family and friends.” – Tammy

“If I had to choose one, I would choose Prop 62 but only because it is the lesser of two evils. Prop 66 just can’t be constitutional. As a practical matter, I hope neither passes.” – Amber

“I don’t think either [proposition] is enough. Last time death row [was abolished] inmates became lifers and some of those lifers are free today…so, why Life Without Parole? Why does society see LWOP as a suitable replacement? It’s still a death sentence. If death row becomes LWOP then LWOP should become life with a chance of parole.” – Amy

“We already work. Working a low wage like 8 cents an hour makes a tiny dent in restitution and only makes those working more dependent on the state to survive daily needs. An indigent LWOP would rely on the state or family (if still alive) for daily hygiene and basic needs. Higher restitution forces inmates to engage in criminal activity to tend to basic needs. Plus, a job is not rehabilitation. I’d rather have the requirement of self-help. Let’s rehabilitate human beings not treat them as trash.” – Amy

“If [Prop 62] passes anything [else] will fall upon deaf ears because [the lawyers] already feel victorious and like they have really assisted us. It stops the conversation because they feel like they’ve given us something. Lawyers and death penalty opponents can show they are fully engaged in the LWOP plight by working on another bill [for] LWOPs.” – Rae

“I don’t think [replacing Death Penalty with LWOP] is a solution. The ladies on death row sit there forever. LWOP…is an easier way to say death penalty.” – Sue

“I would like to see all bills pass for everyone. I believe everyone needs a second chance.” – LaToya

“Prove that this [proposition] is changing the system. This kind of change scares me. I’ve lost everything a long time ago. People that aren’t in prison need to sit down and listen. These sentences make us suicidal, make us go off the deep end. We are medicated to be manageable.” – Angel

“Yes, I would like to see the “Justice That Works Act” pass because nothing is solved by taking another life. Unless you’re in a losing situation (which I am as an LWOP) nothing is worse than knowing that this is forever. That no matter what, how hard you try and how much you’ve changed, you will still die in here…” – Boualy

“I feel that [replacing Death Penalty with LWOP] would work because it is a change and more people will rehabilitate and work towards giving back to society.” – Boualy

“[I’d like to see] legislation that actually works on rehabilitation or reform— we, as a society, are still focused on vengeance in my opinion.” – Amber

“LWOPs have never gotten any attention and I don’t see that changing. 60% restitution is just more punishment.” – Judith

Please come out to support families & friends who have lost loved ones to the abuse & neglect at CIW state women’s prison in Chino, CA.

Join the families of several young women who recently died in custody for a public vigil at CIW on Saturday, October 1st at 2:30 pm (2 pm meet-up nearby place TBD). Please RSVP for carpools, directions & prep: ciwvigil@gmail.com.

Demand that the State of California, the Corrections Department (CDCR) & CIW be held responsible for the rampant abuse, neglect & deaths in custody. Demand answers about the premature death of so many young women of color in particular.

Speak out against isolation, abuse & state-sanctioned death!
Rally with us in support of the survival & release of people currently incarcerated at CIW.

In response to another preventable and tragic death, advocates at the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) are reaching out to ally organizations in the Bay to call further attention to the ongoing crisis occurring at California Institution for Women (CIW). CIW is at 130 percent capacity and has a suicide rate that is 8 times the national average for people in women’s prisons, and 5 times the rate for all California prisons. We will be holding aTown Hall on Sunday, July 31st at the Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland and want to invite your organization to endorse and be part of it.

The injustice and conditions of abuse and violence at CIW are happening inside and outside of prison walls across the country. Too often, lives are being lost to state violence and the majority of lives stolen are Black and Brown, queer and transgender. At CIW, people are dying as a result of direct neglect by cops, and from medical and mental health neglect. Outside, women are being killed by police. In 2013, Kayla Moore, a Black trans woman was killed by the Berkeley police in her home. On May 19, 2016, a Black woman named Jessica Nelson Williams was killed by San Francisco police in the Bayview neighborhood. There are no shortage of examples of punishing people and communities who have survived generations of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia with policing, incarceration and neglect.

Just a few weeks ago Shaylene Graves, a 27 year old Black woman, died from this state violence. She was six weeks away from her release. Before Shaylene, Erika Rocha committed suicide. Erika was 35 years old and had been incarcerated for 21 years. She was one day away from her Youth Parole Hearing. Last November, five people at the CCWF women’s prison were physically abused, sexually harassed and placed in solitary confinement by prison guards. They are planning to bring a suit against the CDCR.

Legal advocates with CCWP are working with and supporting survivors inside and family members outside to get much needed attention and support to those suffering behind these walls. We are reaching out to you because more needs to be done.

We hope that the Town Hall Meeting on Sunday, July 31st, 2016 from 3-5pm at the East Side Arts Alliance can help us connect these struggles and bring more attention to the ongoing crisis at CIW. We hope that you will endorse the event, share the information with your networks and come to Eastside Arts Alliance on July 31st. To endorse the town hall, please email info@womenprisoners.org.

Join us in demanding justice for Shaylene, Erika and all lives stolen by the CDCR and the police. BRING OUR LOVED ONES HOME ALIVE!

Yet another young woman of color died at the California Institution for Women (CIW) two weeks ago today. Her name is Shaylene Graves and she was 27 years old and 6 weeks away from returning home to her loving son, family and friends. CCWP is working with Shaylene’s family to hold the CA Department of Corrections (CDCR) and CIW responsible for her death. In the wake of Shaylene’s death, the prison continues to mistreat her grieving family and friends and to evade responsibility for failing to save lives.

We are writing to ask for your continued support in demanding an end to the dehumanization, abuse & preventable deaths at CIW.

Help us demand an investigation into the preventable deaths at CIW, including the ongoing suicide crisis. We encourage connecting this push to mobilizations to #SayHerName (gathering tomorrow in Detroit), #BlackLivesMatter, and the #StateOfWomen summit in DC this week (last one for the stretch).

Also, if you have personal connections with members of the CA Senate Rules Committee, the Assembly Speaker, and/or the Governor — please also make a call in honor of Shaylene Graves, Erika Rocha, as well as the many people who have attempted suicide at CIW this year alone, and ask them to support our demand for an investigation. (These 3 gov’t bodies are now the only authorized to order a state prison investigation.)